Pakistan Court Orders Former PM Charged in Musharraf Case

A Pakistani court trying former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for treason on Friday ordered the government to add a former prime minister, law minister and chief justice to the charge sheet.

The move will further prolong proceedings against Musharraf over his decision to suspend the constitution and impose emergency rule in 2007.

The charges, first announced by the government a year ago, have raised hackles in the powerful military establishment, which is seen as reluctant to have one of its former chiefs tried by civilians.

Musharraf, 71, returned to Pakistan last April vowing to run in the general election to "save" the country from Taliban militancy and economic ruin.

But he was barred from standing in the May 2013 poll and hit with a series of criminal charges dating back to his 1999-2008 rule, including treason and murder.

His lawyers had applied to have the charge sheet expanded to include around 600 other names.

But the court ordered only three people to be added to the charges: Shaukat Aziz, who was prime minister at the time of the emergency order, then-law minister Zahid Hamid and judge Abdul Hameed Dogar, who was elevated to chief justice after the order.

"Based on the material on record, the probability of their involvement as aiders and abettors cannot be ruled out," the court said in its order signed by two of the three-judge bench hearing the case.

"We are therefore of the view that joinder of the then Prime Minister and the then Federal Law Minister is necessary to secure the ends of justice."

The third judge on the panel gave a dissenting view, dismissing the application to extend the charges. The hearing was adjourned to December 9.

The ruling forced Hamid to resign as minister for science and technology in the current government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The case suffered repeated delays earlier this year due to Musharraf's health problems and security threats against him — the Taliban have threatened to kill him.

Legal experts said the latest ruling means proceedings are unlikely to advance any time soon.

"The government or any other co-accused who are to be included in the case can go to the Supreme Court and if this happens there will be long and time-consuming arguments there," former deputy attorney general Raja Abdul Rehman told AFP.

The case against Musharraf relates to his decision to impose emergency rule shortly before the Supreme Court was due to decide on the legality of his re-election as president a month earlier, while he was still army chief.

He had seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing Sharif — who was elected PM for a third time in May last year in a landslide victory.

Some observers have suggested the government's pursuit of Musharraf is partly motivated by Sharif's personal grudge against the former general.

Since the Musharraf was indicted in March there have been regular rumors of a backroom deal to allow him to leave Pakistan to avoid a destabilizing confrontation between the government and the army.